Take your pick: adrenaline packed or slow and contemplative?
Updated on Mar 29, 2023
Because buying local is as good for our taste buds as it is for the environment, here are some excellent Eastern Townships products that you can easily find in grocery stores. To your baskets!
By Marie-Claude Masse and the editorial team
For a variety of beverages, the offer is quite attractive! Are you an amateur of homemade sodas? Opt for Bull’s Head brand, in operation since … 1896! Do you prefer maple flavours for your drinks? The Millebois company elaborates their spirits, and their famous acers, from their own maples. You’ll easily find Cidrerie Milton and Verger Ferland products in most grocery stores.
Do you like the taste of rhubarb? Well, you’ll love Rhubarbelle and their 100% natural, sparkling rhubarb juices. To conclude, there are many coffee roasters in the area, but here are a few products you’re sure to find in many outlets: Faro Roasting Houses and Virgin Hill Coffee Roasters.
You’ll find many cheese factories established in the Eastern Townships, in fact, so many that there’s even a circuit which makes it easier to locate them so you can better plan your visit (createursdesaveurs.com). Most grocery stores hold fine artisanal cheeses produced by Fromagerie la Station, the Saint-Benoît-du-Lac abbey, the Fromagerie des Cantons and the Fromagerie Nouvelle-France.
The Kaiser family, milk producers for more than 40 years, and behind the great renown of the Laiterie Chagnon brand, offers a complete line of superb products: milk, chocolate milk, cream, butter, ice cream, yogurt… Also, for farm products that really taste the way dairy should, La Pinte uses the delicious milk and cream from herd in the Coaticook Valley. You can’t miss their unique glass bottles! Finally, if you like Greek yogurt, you’ll love the one produced by Flavora, made with sheep’s milk, naturally smooth and creamy.
If you enjoy eating artisanal charcuteries, you must drop by the Charcuterie Scotstown, where they make dry sausages, pancetta, capocollo, ham and plenty of spicy delights which will please the finest palates. For your barbecues, the savoury sausages made by Les gars de saucisse are your perfect accomplices! Are you more of a duck fan? The products offered by Brome Lake Duck, a true flagship enterprise in the region, are available in most grocery stores.
On a smaller scale, les Ducs de Montrichard, an artisanal, family-run business, prepare a fine variety of duck rillettes and wild game terrines, all ideal for your picnics! Also, for amazing hot smoked salmon, Fumoirs Gosselin is a must. Their products are absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious. If you prefer cold-smoked flavours, we suggest the excellent trout products offered by the Ferme piscicole Des Bobines’ fish farm.
Ah! Those amazing microbrewery beers! Once again, you’ll find plenty of them in the area. Psst! Check out this map which highlights all the region’s beer brewing businesses! But, let’s first identify the beers you’ll readily find in our grocery stores. Farnham Ale & Lager offers a great variety, all easily recognizable by their cans’ unique labels. They’re available in our supermarkets.
The beers produced by the rural brewery 11 Comtés, made only with local ingredients, are also sold in many grocery stores. The pretty bottles of the very creative Brasserie Dunham, true works of art, are popular in different outlets everywhere in the region. Plus, you’ll have no trouble finding the Microbrasserie Coaticook, the Microbrasserie Siboire and the Grimoire brewery beers. They all have their own fine characters. Cheers!
If you think that Montreal is the only place you can find authentic bagels, you’re wrong! Magog is home to the incredible Café Noir! Every day, they bake a phenomenal quantity of these golden rings, using an artisanal approach, and distribute them in several grocery stores. If you love doughnuts like the ones your grandma made, hurry to Pâtisserie Duquette where they also make savoury moist cakes and mousses.
And, of course, when it comes to ice cream, the popular Coaticook brand is your number one choice! All their products are made with real milk and cream! It’s not surprising that their ice cream is found in just about every grocery store in Quebec and in many dairy bars as well!
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